Study: Fire dept. site most 'reasonable' one

A feasibility study that's deciding which town properties might house a public safety complex is now focusing on the current fire department site and an adjacent private property as the most reasonable, Town Administrator Charlie Blanchard said Monday.

The study is now requesting a topographical survey and wetlands delineation, half of which will be paid for by the light department, which sits on the same site, behind the fire station.

Those studies will probably be completed in three to five weeks, Blanchard said.

The topographical survey and wetlands delineation will also focus on parts of an adjacent private property, with that homeowner's permission. The home at 580 Pleasant St. was up for consideration as a potential purchase at a 2003 special town meeting. Voters nixed incurring debt for that purchase in an uncertain budget year and without a definite plan for the property. The home was then sold to its current owners.

The feasibility study is only one part of the town's search for new digs for its public safety departments. Requests-for-proposals to do a study on a potential public safety complex-training facility, as well as the Molly Bish Center, on land at Anna Maria College are due today.

"We'll have a better comparison [once both are done] on which way the town should go," Blanchard said.

The town is currently awash in studies. A recent evaluation of the Town Hall found the building structurally sound but in need of updates. That study, which suggested converting Allen Hall, on the second floor, and using it for office space, raised some concerns among historical commission members who would like to see the Town Hall restored rather than converted.

Blanchard suggested putting several options before voters, but hopes the report's recommendations about the building remain on the table, not in a pile next to the town's other reports that resulted in no action.

The Town Hall study has been sent to the Capital Appreciation Committee for information only. Architects who authored the report will come before the select board and historical commission members, possibly sometime in September, to answer questions.